Letters To The Editor

January 14, 2002

York schools and water testing

I am a parent of a York Middle School student and was much relieved last week when a York County official interviewed by WAVY-TV 10 news stated that the county had never had problems with the water at York Middle School.

The next morning I read the Jan. 9 Daily Press article on this problem and found that the county has not tested the water at the middle school for at least 10 years.

Is there something basically wrong with a county official using the fact that there has been no water tested at York Middle School for 10 years to claim the county has not had a problem with the water at that school?

For all we know, the children at York Middle School have been subjected to lead poisoning for the last decade.

I am also disturbed by the comments of Virginia Department of Health's Division of Drinking Water as reported in the Daily Press: " This isn't something to ignore, but it's not cause for immediate alarm. It would take months to years for kids to develop problems at that level."

Well, I'm certainly alarmed as my son has attended York Middle School for 21/2 years and his older sister attended for three years. Remember that children spend most of their waking hours and certainly their most active hours in school during the school year. I suspect most of their water intake also occurs at school.

I understand that the water is now being tested at all York County schools. My question is why there was no program for periodic water testing?

J.R. Griffin

Yorktown

Risky deregulation

I have been pondering the conundrum in which we find ourselves here in Virginia. I refer to the inexorable move toward deregulation of power company providers.

I have the sense that my so-called representatives at the General Assembly have in fact presented the rank and file voters with what amounts to a fait accompli. A number of large corporations think this would be good for its bottom lines and as a result have made significant lobbying efforts to ensure the enactment of this legislation.

They also present this under the guise of good conservative doctrine, i.e. competition regardless of the public welfare should override common sense.

The public needs to become prescient enough to realize that attributing altruistic objectives to large corporations is in fact anathema to their very raison d'etre, which happens to be to maximize return on investment.

In other words "what's good for General Motors isn't necessarily good for the country."

Or said another way "what's good for Dominion Resources is not necessarily good for Virginians."

I pride myself on being a good conservative Republican who is also wise and prudent enough to "not try to fix what ain't broke." I have yet to hear one defensible argument in favor of deregulation for the average user, as opposed to a large corporate consumer.

I have not heard where Gov. Warner stands on this issue. Somehow it seems to me that we need to try to create a groundswell of support for leaving public utilities under the control of the state.

Frankly, it boggles the mind that we could observe the disastrous results of deregulation in California and the demise of so-called power giants like Enron and continue to expose ourselves to this risk.

This rush to deregulation amounts to nothing more than greed on the part of large corporations, albeit disguised as a benevolent caretaker who has nothing but the public's best interests at heart.

You correctly reported that this legislation establishes new minimum facility standards for public pounds. However, you failed to report that the legislation, the implementation of which may be delayed, also encompasses any nonprofit groups organized for the purpose of preventing cruelty to animals and promoting humane care and treatment or adoption of animals.

While the new standards may represent a financial challenge to both public and private organizations, by far the greater challenge is meeting the demand for these services because of pet overpopulation.

Carefully planned and implemented spay and neuter programs are an essential element to reducing the need for large pounds and shelters. In just six years, one female dog and her offspring can be the source of 67,000 puppies. In seven years one cat and her young can produce 420,000 kittens. The greatest public service the Daily Press can provide on this subject is to encourage support for Spay Day USA, which is a national awareness event on Feb. 26. Information dispelling rumors and myths about sterilization will be readily available.

Local humane societies and veterinary associations again will be offering discounted services to help pet owners make a responsible decision.